Foodbanks Director: GOP Tax ‘Reform’ Will Lead To Cuts In Fight Against Hunger

Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director for the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, slammed the Republican/Trump Tax Scam in a release last week, saying the giveaway to multinational corporations will only lead to more pain for Ohio’s hungriest and most vulnerable citizens.

“Early Saturday morning, the Senate completed its rushed tax ‘reform’ process, coming up with just enough votes to pass a bill that will spell short- and long-term harm for low- and middle-income Ohio families,” Hamler-Fugitt said in a news release.

“Instead, the bill will balloon the deficit in order to cut taxes for the wealthy, and lead to calls to cut basic lifelines like SNAP, Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security,” she said.

“We have longstanding social contracts in our country. These contracts are rooted in our shared commitment to promote a country where all people can at least survive, if not thrive. Persist, if not prosper,” she said. “They are also informed by smart policymaking that understands the old adage, ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’”

In Ohio, the average SNAP recipient – likely a child, disabled adult or senior – receives $123 to help them buy groceries, Hamler-Fugitt said. The calls for cuts to programs like these are already being made, even as the tax legislation moves toward conference committee, she noted.

“If Congress completes this process and passes tax legislation that deeply cuts revenue, the calls for cuts to programs that serve tens of millions of low- and moderate-income Americans will follow,” she said. “It will certainly be a happy holiday season for the corporations and wealthy individuals who will benefit from permanent tax cuts. But the fallout for the 2 million Ohioans we serve will be like a lump of coal in their stockings.”